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Rohit Sharma

University Hospitals Derby and Burton, UK

Title: Eyedrop questionnaire- Glaucoma, ocular surface & preservatives

Biography

Biography: Rohit Sharma

Abstract

Purpose: Preservatives found in topical eye drops for glaucoma treatment have various side effects which manifest as ocular surface disease (OSD) with symptoms such as dry, irritated red eyes and watering. Various studies have compared outcomes between those who use non-preservative free (NPF) drops and preservative free (PF) drops and have shown positive results for the latter including less OSD symptoms and better adherence. One barrier to using PF drops is cost; the cost of PF drops sometimes being x10 that of NPF drops. This study investigated whether there were significantly positive outcomes to justify the cost of PF drops.

Methods:A questionnaire was designed for patients to self-report theirsymptoms, treatment and complete OSDI (Ocular Surface Disease Index) and SANDE (Symptoms Assessment in Dry Eye) scores.

Results:A total of 71 patients responded. 40 patients (56%) had glaucoma and of this,9 (23%) used PF drops, 16 (40%) said they did not. The rest (15) were unsure or did not answer. All patients who used PF said it helped with around half saying they were easier to use. However, NPF drops had better SANDE scores with higher proportion of users placing the severity and frequency of symptoms on the ‘Rarer’ side of the scale compared to PF drops. Furthermore, NPF drop users also reported lower OSDI scores (median 7, average 10) correlating with better symptoms compared to PF drops (median 20, average 19). In4 PF users and 1 NPF user, drops made their glaucoma symptoms worse.

Conclusions:This study found that although all patients using PF drops reported they had helped, they contradictorily reported worsening symptoms both through free text comments and through OSDI and SANDE scores. These outcomes were worse when compared to NPF drop users. Larger multicentre trial is urgently required to establish whether the cost benefit of PF drops is completely rationalised.